My husband and I met a couple about a year
ago. They lived in a very small old trailer and could barely
make ends meet. They had two cats and one day, during a
snowstorm, another cat showed up at their door and they took her
in. She happened to be pregnant. They already had a Siamese cat
at home that was also pregnant. At that time they both had jobs,
though they were still barely making ends meet.
We helped them as much as we could with
the 2 litters, trying to find good homes for them. We decided to
keep one…a beautiful tiny Black Calico. It was the only kitten
like that in the litter and we both fell in love with it
immediately. It was just 2 weeks old so much too young to take
home.
We took her home in May, when she was 6
weeks old. We did everything right, got all her shots, then got
her spayed when she was 4 months old. The next day she was very
lethargic and just wanted to be left alone. I rushed her back to
her vet and then, after hours at the specialists, putting her on
oxygen and monitoring her heart, she died in my arms. It was the
worst day of my life…and of our life together since we met.
We had to do something to get our minds off of it. We decided to
help our friends again. A month or 2 before our Kali left us,
their cats (all 3 of the adult females) got pregnant and had
their litters within 2 weeks of each other. They were Kali’s
mom, who was a tabby, a white calico and a Siamese. The Siamese
mated with a male Siamese producing a full litter of beautiful
Seal Point Siamese kittens (7 total). The Tabby and Calico each
had 6. We had our hands full but didn’t mind…it kept us busy and
our minds off our Kali.
The oldest was the Siamese litter. We brought one of them home
the Monday after our loss, though I was told I wouldn’t be happy
until I found a long haired Calico. So that Thursday I found
one…a 2 month old that was already spayed. We had decided we
were keeping both of them…it didn’t take long for them to become
part of the family.
We got started with the Siamese litter. We decided the only way
we could find good homes for them would be if we brought them
all into to our home. The couple with the litters had recently
lost their jobs, had no money, no phone, no computer and no car.
They had no way to contact potential new owners. We brought all
the remaining Siamese kittens to our home, where we found good
homes for them all. However, when we got them here, we had to
nurse them back to health. They all had some sort of eye
problems, which I cleared up by washing them out several times a
day. Apparently it wasn’t any type of infection since I cleared
it up with plain water. We then found loving homes for them all
within a week.
In the meantime, Kali’s mom had her litter under the trailer. It
was the middle of summer, so we knew they were very hot under
there. The people that lived there didn’t plan to do anything
about it so my husband crawled under there to find them. Once
found, he brought them, one by one, to the edge where I took
them, cleaned them up and put them in a box. They were about 4
weeks at that time. They stayed there with their mom for a
couple more weeks, along with the other litter.
We then brought both litters to our house, where we attempted to
find them homes. Before we could do that, we had to nurse them
back to health. About half of them had eye problems, so we took
them to a vet. I found some free initial visit coupons online so
the office visits were free. I got some antibiotic drops that
seemed to help. I healed them all and found homes for them. In
the midst of all this, I met Linda, who worked with Feline
Alliance. With her help, I was able to get that couple lots of
cat food, litter, blankets, towels, etc. to help them out.
Feline Alliance also paid to have the mothers spayed at Feline
Fix.
After the cats returned home after getting
spayed, they got sick due to their low immune system. The owners
took them to get medicine, which Feline Alliance offered to pay
for as well.
Both of those organizations and the people
associated with them helped us out so much. I couldn’t have done
it without them.
We did find homes for most of them, but there were some
'special' kitty's that we couldn't part with. So we now have 5
kittens…our precious Calico (Kalei(doscope)), Siamese (Aeri),
Friendliest Tabby (Furby), gorgeous black kitty (Spooky)...both
are step-siblings of Kali...and the runt of the last litter
(Munchkin). I’ve gotten all of them fixed with the help of
Feline Fix’s great $10 specials and got their shots for a very
good price. I’m so glad I was able to meet so many people that
were willing to help, starting with Linda who welcomed me into
the ‘cat community’ and has been the biggest help of all :)
